And Here's to Second Chances
by FraiseDandelion
Summary: Rule number one, if your son ever asks about your love life, don't answer. Rule number two, if rule number one is not followed, make sure you're ready to face the consequences. Rated T. For LoveFromOQ2020
1. Here's to Second Chances

**Title**: And Here's to Second Chances

**Rated**: T+

**Summary**: Rule number one, if your son ever asks about your love life, don't answer. If you do answer, make sure you're ready to face the consequences.

**A/N:** HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY LISA (_audreysl0ve_)! I am your trash ass secret valentine! Hope you enjoy this part 1!

* * *

She is going to murder him.

Regina doesn't know how, doesn't know the ways to make it just right, but she knows that she will most definitely murder her son.

After she finds him.

If she finds him.

And for a moment her anger dissipates leaving only desperation and worry as she realizes that her thirteen year old not only has been lying to her, but has left 72 hours ago with plans that she should've double checked. But she trusted him, God, how she trusted him and now…

"Regina, we will find him," the sheriff says simply, as if his words could actually calm her. They don't. Nothing can. So Regina simply rolls her eyes (doesn't flip the man because she still has a bit of decency left), mutters something about the state police department and FBI and a bunch of other inconsistencies that under another moon may have made her laugh.

But she can't laugh.

She can't laugh because the child she took care of for more than ten years is gone, went MIA on purpose, and is still refusing to answer her calls.

"You don't understand, Gracie, my little Grace wouldn't do that, at all," Jefferson utters, voice shaky, bringing her back to the present, to the facts.

But then the sheriff is talking again, and Regina wishes she would've remained deep in her thoughts.

"Let me see if I got this right. Your teenagers disappeared, together, on Friday for a camping trip with a friend and his family? And it just so happens that so friend just…"

"What are you suggesting, sheriff?" Regina asks, clearly annoyed, an arched brow, daring him. She knows Henry, for fucks sake, she raised him, and she raised him to be a gentleman in all aspects and raised him to have enough trust in her to discuss these things. Besides, he's still a child, a kid, he's just not…

"I don't know, I'm suggesting condoms, maybe the pill for little Gracie?" Agent Isaac says mockingly.

And on an instant, Jefferson is leaning close to the man, over his desk, gripping the lapels of his jacket, as Regina closes her fist tightly, preventing herself from punching this man back into tomorrow.

"Listen to me, and listen to me closely, Isaac," he near whispers. "If you ever make another comment like that about my little girl and Regina's son, I will not hesitate."

"Is that a threat?" The sheriff asks calmly, staring straight at Jefferson's eyes.

"I guess we'll find out," is what Jefferson says before he roughly lets him go, straightens up and turns to face Regina, anger on his face. And just when he's about to speak to her, her phone rings from her back pocket.

Regina reaches for her phone in desperation, only to let out a sigh of relieve when she reads the name on her screen.

_My Little Prince_

She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before answering firmly. "Henry, what are you—"

"Please don't get mad," he begs in that voice so uniquely his.

"Is Gracie with him? Is she okay?" Jefferson asks desperately, a hopeful look on his face and Regina just raises a hand to stop him, takes another deep breath to calm the strange feeling that's settled on her stomach. Anxiety.

A moment passes, then two before her hand moves to her middle, and she holds herself before she replies. "How can you ask me that when—"

"Mom, listen to me," he interrupts her, excited, always so excited.

And he sounds so happy, so so happy, while Regina feels her heart clenching, a mix of emotions from relief to betrayal to stress to overthinking finally catching up with her.

"Henry," she says, one stubborn tear falling from her eye before she takes a deep breath. "Is Grace with you?"

"She _is_mom but listen—"

"What have you done Henry?" She asks, the words of the officer catching up with her and she feels Jefferson cussing behind her.

"Mom," Henry begins.

But Regina's had enough in a minute, and instead of letting him explain himself she just barks into her phone.

"Where the hell are you? You guys thought you could get away with this? Without either one of your parents finding out? Did you guys think us so stupid? God, Henry, you lied to me, straight to my face for three weeks! Three weeks Henry!" She near yells.

"MOM! STOP!" Henry yells in desperation.

And she does, just finds herself panting against the phone, shocked, as the slight pressure on her head increases indicating the beginning of a migraine. She huffs into the phone, presses her palm to her head and rubs her temple, breathing in and out, not wanting to make matters worse but completely ignoring her son's miserable apology.

"You've got 60 seconds to explain yourself and you've already wasted 30. So, speak," Regina says on firm tone, looking at Jefferson just to see how affected he is by this conversation. His mind is running a mile per minute, she just knows it, just like she knows she's due for an earful as soon as she hangs up. But deep down, Regina knows her son, knows he has to have a good reason for this. A reason she's dying to hear.

She hears him on the other end of the line take a deep breath and murmur something and God he's testing her patience today.

"Henry," she mutters darkly.

"Okay, okay, okay."

"Ten seconds," she reminds him.

"Please don't get mad," he pleads.

"Seven."

And he quickly rambles on, and on, and on saying nothing of substance as she does the countdown in her head.

_Five_

He's jumping from topic to topic, nervous, he's so nervous.

_Four_

He's stuttering, murmuring I… I… I…

_Three_

"I wanted to give something back to you, so I found him."

_Two_

_Wait_

"Wait what?"

"Mom," Henry mutters, hopeful, so so hopeful and so sure of himself while Regina frowns, confused. "I found Robin Locksley."

And her phone slips from her hand.


	2. And May They

Numb

She feels numb and shocked as she walks (more like runs) up the stairs to her porch. Jefferson has long ago grilled her right on the stop, in front of the sheriff, before he stormed out of the building, obviously disgruntled over something she's more than certain has no foundation. But there's no point in trying to make him see, not when their kids have hurt their trust so hard. No. So instead she's here, working out over the logistics of this, and just how, how did he find enough information to find him when the last thing Regina knew about him was that he lived in the same apartment complex of August back when the former lived in Boston. But August never knew of the man, and when Emma passed away, August moved into Maine.

So, yes, she definitely has no idea of where he could be, of where Henry could be.

Gods, Henry.

The mere thought of the teenager makes her stomach twist in anxiety, in nerves, and yeah, finally she's not feeling as numb as before, betrayal and anger settling low on her belly as she slips her key into the keyhole, but before she can even think of unlocking, her door swings open, a distraught August staring straight at her as he continues talking on the phone, giving details about Henry's height, hair color, eyes color and Regina swallows hard, preparing herself for another earful. She slips in, closes the door behind her and under another moon the image in front of her would've been funny, how a man so 'cool', a man careless about meek things like personal information and belongings has turned her living room upside down, papers and pictures and his laptop all scattered across the coffee table.

He's back to yelling over the phone and just when he starts cussing, Regina decides to intervene. Quickly, she pulls the phone from his ear and hangs up.

"Hey! I was—"

"He called," she says simply, her eyes wide.

"Is he okay? Where is he? Is he hurt?"

"He's okay. But, I'm afraid I don't know of his whereabouts."

"You're not making any sense about this. He's fine but you don't know where he is? How can you even be so fucking calm right now Regina? He's been out there for three days probably without a clue of where he—"

"Oh trust me," she chuckles darkly, "he definitely knows where he is."

August just stares at her wide eyed, anger written all over his eyes as he waits for her to elaborate, motions her so exasperatedly with his hands.

"I had a talk with Henry the other day," she swallows and nods. "I realize now that it was probably a mistake, but you know how much I wanted him to trust me, so I was sincere, as sincere as I ever could be, and it may have led into this mess."

"What?"

"He asked about love."

"I'm not understanding?"

"I'm afraid Henry's gone out looking for my," she scoffs and shakes her head before continuing, "_lost love_ as he called it."

August just eyes her, nostrils flaring and one, two, three he's exploding, asking of his whereabouts, berating her for speaking of something so serious to a boy with enough determination to rule the world, and then she's also yelling at him, reprimanding him for everytime he talked about freedom and rebellious teen years and on and off they go until they've spoken their feelings, their frustrations, their fear, their sense of failure away and they're left with the bitter taste of their words and the sting of their screams.

"Look at us, bickering like an old married couple," and Regina recognizes that as what it is, a way of August giving her an olive branch, as always, scratching the back of his head before he's leaning forward and pulling her into a hug. Just like they always do when they have disagreements. Once upon a time this was a daily occurrence between them, always brawling and screaming back and forth trying to come with the best way to raise Henry, after being thrown into being the kid's legal guardians. But the more Henry grew, the less they fought, in fact, the last time Regina remembers fighting with August was two years ago, when Regina wanted to switch schools. Yet, no matter how much they fought, they always resolved their issues in the end.

"You're crazy," she whispers on a small smile. "I'd never agree to marry you."

"Ouch," August says on a chuckle, breaking the hug almost instantly, and then he's looking at her more seriously. "I'm sorry, it's just too stressful," August sighs as he stands back and Regina nods.

"I know. I'm sorry too. It honestly wasn't my intention to—"

"I know, I know. It just, it was easier to blame you rather than my constant talk about rebellion. I mean, if we're being honest, it's probably both our fault."

Regina nods before letting out a sigh and walking towards the living room, plopping herself on the couch.

"Emma's probably laughing at us right now," he says with a sad smile.

"Definitely," Regina says with a roll of her eyes and then she shakes her head. "We need to find him."

"I agree," August say before sitting down and taking a seat next to her. "The sheriff will hardly do shit."

"Ugh don't remind me. He suggested that Jefferson put Grace on the pill."

"Was Jefferson there?"

"Hardly. I'm pretty sure he passed out for a moment," she says back, slightly amused but then she's frowning and is staring at the contents on her coffee table, staring, looking for something, something that might give her a clue. But nothing does. She had checked her credit card, had checked his debit card, and no strange transactions had been made, nothing that could point her to his whereabouts. So he hasn't used his card, his money, or hers, instead he's…

"August?" She murmurs, frowning. "Do you happen to have the information on the gift card you gave Henry for Christmas?" She asks, hopeful.

"Yeah, what do you need it for?"

But the look she gives him is enough confirmation. Back then she had been flabbergasted at the more than generous gift he had given Henry, but today, today when information on his whereabouts is unavailable, Regina couldn't be more thankful for that gift. But then, just as she's grabbing her laptop and August is looking through his phone, the familiar sound of her ringtone alerts them, and Regina freezes for moment, remembering just the seriousness of their ordeal (while trying to come up with ideas on how to ground Henry), and knowing full-well just who it was, Regina answers her phone with a rough Hello, expecting the sweet voice of Henry.

But instead, a voice she hasn't heard in more than a decade graces her ears.

"Hello Regina," the slightly accented voice begins and her breath catches in her throat, feels her heart beat beat beating faster, and then he's talking again, quickly. "I believe I have two teenagers that belong to you."

And she grasps her phone firmly.


End file.
